Over the past decade, automobile dealers have been aggressive buyers and tenants on commercial real estate in Hawaii. With the contraction of the automobile market, there is less demand from dealers for this real estate. In 2010 automobile sales made a 11% recovery, but doing so on much less land across the state.These parcels of land, typically, are larger and well located on major thoroughfares. These properties are excellent redevelopment opportunities and will provide development sites for some of the growing retailers within our state. Like much of our investment real estate, a large portion of these auto dealerships are located on leasehold land. Depending on the term left on the land lease, they may still have a valuable asset to sell or sublease. Look for more prime land on these automobile dealership sites to free up, even over the next couple of years.
